Copyright and Advertising Law was a minor of mine in college (the first time around). As a journalist, copyright law was drilled into me. As the media and Internet age began to unfold in the 80s, I loved watching all of the copyright frenzy that took place - as it still does today. This is a fascination of mine. I love to read about copyright and the digital age, as well as all of the lawsuits that are floating around.
As I taught English for 10 years to 6th graders, this was a stickler of mine. I did put a fair amount of time into teaching about plagiarism and copyright law (more than needed or really had time for), but I felt that it was important. Now, teaching computer technology, I still devote a good chunk of time teaching students that you just can't go to Google, copy and image, and use it. Our students are growing up in the age of the Internet and they think that because it is up on the Internet, they can use or "borrow" it. As one student put it, "It's free to use cuz it's on the Internet." WOW, why do they think this way? I did spent lots of hours this past semester tracking down the root of my student's thinking... Here is what I learned.
1) Students are using the internet since K and are told "it's for everyone to share and use."
2) Around 2nd grade, student begin doing media projects and are told to use pictures without any instruction as to where to get the pictures from, or what is okay to use and what is not.
3) Each year after that, projects get bigger and more complicated with more multimedia included, but are still not told what is acceptable to use.
4) Copyright is not really talked about or taught until high school
With our digital/multimedia age moving so quickly, we need to educate our students before they get onto the Internet, and explain that "because I can find it on Google, it's okay for me to use" is not correct.
June 4, 2012 at 9:50 PM
Great analysis and connection with the material from your own experiences... Looks like the common theme not only is how pervasive and normal accessing media and information is for the current generation, but how lax and incomplete is the instruct of the adults in the room to recognize the power of this medium and look beyond the single assignment to the lifetime of usage they are beginning their students on. Teachers need to step up, not as police, but as concerned content creators themselves that we need to do a better job self-managing, because the powers that be are not going to do anything in our interests.